Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Food Museums
68
Mount Horeb Mustard Museum
Fun with Colonel Mustard
Mount Horeb, Wisconsin
A sense of fun and impish good humor
pervades the Mount Horeb Mustard
Museum, a cheerfully wacky storefront
museum on this small Wisconsin town's
Main Street (just look for the hanging
sign—bright yellow, of course). With more
than 5,000 different mustards on display,
it's got to be the world's most comprehen-
sive condiment collection.
Who knew there was so much to say
about mustard? Exhibits in this quirky
museum cover the history of mustard
from A to Z, along with displays of antique
mustard pots, mustard tins, vintage adver-
tisements, and assorted memorabilia and
educational films. For those who want to
delve even more deeply, degrees are avail-
able from the museum's Poupon U, which
has its own highly silly fight song. (One
becomes a student by purchasing Poupon
U T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, toilet seats,
and all sort of other paraphernalia that will
make you the envy of your friends and
neighbors.)
Courses such as “The Ecodynamics of
Mustard Management” are taught by
museum founder and curator Barry Leven-
son. According to Levenson, he began
collecting mustards to assuage the depres-
sion he felt after the Red Sox lost the
World Series in 1986. In 1991, he left his
job as assistant attorney general for the
state of Wisconsin to pursue his passion
for mustard full time. In 1992, the museum
opened its doors. Today, besides hosting
regular visitors, it sponsors National
Mustard Day, held every year on the first
Saturday in August (the event includes
music, games, and free Oscar Mayer hot
dogs, slathered with you-know-what), as
well as publishing
The Proper Mustard,
a
monthly newsletter, available online at
www.mustardweb.com.
While much of the museum has a
tongue-in-cheek approach, you can't help
but become fascinated with all the gour-
met variations on the mustard theme it
reveals. In the shop, mustards from all
across the United States share shelf space
with those from 60 different countries. On
hand are sweet hot mustards, fruit mus-
tards, hot pepper mustards, horseradish
mustards, and even spirit mustards.
Museum employees (dubbed “Confiden-
tial Condiment Counselors”) can help you
choose from a dizzying array of packages
perfect for gift giving.
And while you're here, stroll up and
down Main Street, admiring the number of
carved wooden trolls set along the street,
earning Mount Horeb the title Troll Capital
of the World. You have to admit, the Mus-
tard Museum fits right in.
100 W. Main St. (
&
608/437-3986;
www.mustardweb.com).
(
Milwaukee International (108 miles/
174km).
L
$
Village Inn Motel,
701 Springdale
St. (
&
608/437-3350
). $$
Holiday Inn
Express Hotel & Suites,
Verona (
&
877/
270-6397;
www.holiday-inn.com).
